Suspension for safety helmets



Oct. 30, 1951 LE GRAND DALY SUSPENSION FOR SAFETY HELMETS Filed March 26, 1945 3 Sheet s- Sheet l LpGi and Du y,

Oct. 30, 1951 L5 GRAND DALY SUSPENSION FOR SAFETY HELMETS 5 SheetsSheet 2 Filed March 26, 1945 Lfla mild .p ayy 1951 LE GRAND DALY SUSPENSION FOR SAFETY HELMETS s Shets-Sheet 5 Filed March 26, 1945 Patented Oct. 30, 1951 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 3 Claims.

This invention relates to safety helmets such as are used by miners, shipyard workers, air raid wardens, and in general by persons engaged in occupations where head injuries are common. The present invention is directed particularly to an improved suspension or cradle for such helmets.

One of the objects of the present invention is to provide an improved safety helmet having a suspension which is a separate and self-sustaining assembly easily connected to or detached from a helmet shell.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved suspension for safety helmets which suspension can be furnished separately from the helmet shell, and easily installed by the user in a helmet shell of any size and of any practicable type.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved suspension for safety helmets which suspension is universal in its fit, which is to say it can be fitted or adjusted to any size of head and therefore may be furnishable in one size only. This feature of the suspension eliminates the confusion and inconveniences in distribution arising because of the necessity to keep in stock suspensions of a large number of sizes, which condition is usually accompanied in an average storeroom by lack of some particular size and accumulation of others. The provision of a onesize suspension of universal fit also eliminates the extra expense and complications arising in their manufacturing due to the necessity of providing additional tools or machines, or constant readjusting of the production machines for various sizes of parts of the suspension, and as well as to the necessity of having extra material and storage facilities tied up in and for parts of various sizes for which there may be no demand for some time.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved suspension for safety helmets, which suspension-can be first fitted or adjusted to a wearers head and thereupon installed in or connected to a selected helmet shell without disturbing said fit or adjustment. This, in turn, makes frequent removal of suspension for sanitary purposes, and its reinstallation in the helmet shell, less complicated.

A still further object of the invention is to provide an improved safety helmet and a suspension means therefor, the latter being constructed in such a manner and of such materials that the suspension is much stronger and no appreciable stretching of the parts thereof and disorganiza helmet shell by a sharp object penetrating the shell and reaching the wearers head, the resistance of the shell to such penetration sets the head of the wearer in motion in the direction of the blow, and therefore creates a condition where by the time the sharp object reaches the wearers head, the head is already in motion. By such an expedient, the outside layer of the soft brain tissue has time to yield to the pressure of the sharp edges of the object and its puncture is prevented. This condition may be compared to the fact that a sharp pencil moved slowly against a sheet of paper will push it away, while moved very fast may puncture the sheet. Moreover, the brain tissue being a soft but highly organized mass, obviously cannot stand and must collapse under a severe sudden jolt. Therefore setting the brain tissue in motion gradually is an advantage of extreme importance. It has been found that if breakage or collapse of the fine tissue is thus prevented, even relatively large head wounds are less dangerous, while if this fine brain tissue is broken down, it takes great medical skill to heal even ostensibly small head injuries.

A still further object of the invention is to provide an improved safety helmet and a suspension therefor whereby the energy of a blow on the helmet is partly consumed and dissipated in the structure of the helmet by friction, and therefore is not fully passed to the head and to the neck of the wearer.

A still further object of the invention is to provide an improved safety helmet and a suspension therefor, which suspension is arranged substantially concentrically of the helmet shell with a safety space provided between the suspension and the helmet shell walls, which suspension is, furthermore, self-centering and which retains its concentric position in the shell.

A still further object of the invention is to provide an improved safety helmet and a suspension therefor, which suspension is made so inexpensive, easy to detach and to install in a ing of the suspension entirely instead of cleaning or disinfecting it, as well as facilitating steaming and delousing the helmet shell.

It is an added object of the present invention to provide an improved suspension for safety helmets, which suspension is simple and rugged in construction, safe and dependable in use, and is relatively inexpensive to manufacture.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will appear in the following description and appended claims, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, wherein like reference characters designate corresponding parts in the several views.

Figure 1 is a side view of a safety helmet embodying the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a bottom view of the safety helmet of F 8. 1.

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of the helmet.

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the helmet suspension as it is furnished to the user, the suspension being shown unpacked and arranged into the shape which it takes in a helmet.

Fig. 5 is a side view of the suspension flattened for packing into a suitable container.

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary sectional view taken in the direction of the arrows on the section plane passing through the section line 66 of Fig. 5.

Fig. '7 is a fragmentary sectional view taken in the direction of the arrows on the section plane passing through the section line 'II of Fig. 5.

Figs. 8 and 9 are fragmentary sectional views illustrating the steps of the method of assembling the separate pieces to form the finished suspension.

Before explaining in detail the present invention it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and arrangement of parts illustrated in the accompanying drawings, since the invention is capable of being practiced or carried out in various ways. Also it is to be understood that the phraseology or terminology employed herein is for the purpose of description and not of limitation, and that it is not intended to limit the invention beyond the requirements of the prior art.

In the drawings there is shown by way of example a safety helmet embodying the present invention. For the purposes of clearer structural analysis, the helmet or helmet assembly illustrated in the drawings may be divided into three distinct and self-sustained parts, namely a helmet shell H, a suspension S, and a connecting cord C. Although the entire helmet assembly may be in some cases sold as a complete preassembled unit, the suspension may be packed in a small cardboard box and sold separately. For convenience of the user it is preferable to supply a new connecting cord with each suspension, although structurally the connecting cord is, in effeet, a separate part, as already mentioned. By virtue of it construction hereinafter described in detail, my improved suspension may be made in one size only, the difference in head sizes being taken care of by the adjustments provided in the suspension, whereby numerous manufacturing and distribution advantages are attained and the price of the suspension to the user is greatly reduced by decreasing the major components of such price, particularly the manufacturing and the distribution costs.

The helmet shell H may be of any practical canvas laminates, fabric reinforced plastic, or any other suitable material. Helmet shells usually comprise a semi-spherical crown, some types also including a brim into which the lower edges of the crown merge. The helmet shell illustrated in the drawings is of a brim type, and it includes a crown I0 and a brim II. However the invention is not limited to a brim type helmet. The crown I0 is provided around its periphery with a number, in the present instance sixteen, of round holes 2 I, spaced substantially equidistantly, and having diameter suflicient to permit passing therethrough the connecting cord C. The ends of the connecting cord C are drawn tightly together and tied into a knot 22 at the rear of the helmet as best shown in Figs. 1 and 2, thus connectin the suspension S to the helmet shell H.

The suspension S comprises a base band I2 made of a strip of strong, flexible but substantially unstretchable material, such as heavy oilcloth, and bent to have its ends meet. Said ends are provided with eyelets I3 through which is passed a head-size adjustment cord I4 which draws said ends together. The cord I I is tied into a suitable knot Ma. A sweat band I5 is stitched to the base band I2 along a seam I6, and it covers the lower edge and the inner surface of said base band I2. The meeting ends of the sweat band I5 are made in the form of overlapping angular tongues I5a which cover from the inside of the knot Ma and thus prevent it from pressing on the back of the wearer's head, whereby greater wearing comfort is insured. To the base band I2 there are also stitched a plurality, in the present instance four, head straps I1. Each of said straps is made of strong substantially unstretchable material such as army cotton webbing, and it is bent upon itself at its middle to a V-shape. I prefer to use for the head straps I! a webbing material which is narrower and stronger than it has been heretofore customary to use for similar purposes. The ends of each V-shaped piece are also bent upon themselves for a distance of approximately one inch and are stitched to the base band I2 as indicated at I8, to form at each end a loop I9. It should be noted that the loops I9 are steadied and made more rigid with the aid of the above mentioned seam I6, which seam thus performs the double function of securing the sweat band I5 to the base band I2, and of holding loops I9 to the .base band I2. The vertices of the V-shaped head straps II are drawn together with the aid of a draw cord 20 the ends of which are tied together into a knot 20a.

Figs. 8 and 9 illustrate the steps of the method by which the pieces forming the suspension are assembled together to form the construction described above. It will be understood that stitching operations illustrated in said figures are performed While the base band I2 and sweat band I5 are still in the form of flat strips. As shown in Fig. 8, the base band strip I2, and the sweat band strip I5, and the ends of the head straps Il are arranged together as shown, and are stitched together with one or more seams, such as the seam I6. Thereupon the head straps are turned up as indicated in phantom lines in Fig. 8, and one or more seams such as I8, see Fig. 9, are run to stitch said head straps H to the base band I2 still more firmly and to form loops I9. Thereupon, the sweat band I5 is turned up into the position indicated in phantom lines in Fig. 9.

While in conventional helmets the adjustment of the size is made in the suspension usually construction and be made of metal, plastic bonded 16 after the helmet is repeatedly tried on and taken off in the hope that after several attempts one of the adjustments so made will prove satisfactory, with my improved suspension, the same is placed on the head of the wearer and all adjustments are made while all parts of the suspension are readily accessible and are in full view. Thus the suspension can be first perfectly fitted to the wearers head and thereupon connected to the helmet shell, eliminating all guess work and trying on.

An important advantage of my improved helmet resides in the fact that such helmet not only cushions the blow, that is to say distributes it to a larger area of the head for transmission to the neck, but also dissipates a substantial portion of the energy of the impact in friction and heat, and thus prevents transfer of that portion of the energy of the blow to the head and the neck of the wearer. As can be easily appreciated with the aid of Fig. 2, should a blow be received, say, on the front of the helment, the movement of the helmet shell to the rear will cause it to become disposed excentrically with respect to the base band l2. Such a displacement tends to cause a slack in the connecting cord at the front of the helment, while creating tension in said cord at the rear of the helmet, in consequence whereof there occurs on both sides of the helmet movement of the connecting cord C from the front to the rear of the helmet through the holes 2|, which movement is accompanied with strong friction between said cord and the edges of the helmet shell, and resulting generation of heat, operating to absorb and to dissipate a substantial portion of the impact force without transmitting it to the wearers head and neck. By selecting the diameter of the holes 2 I, the desired form of edges of the shell thereat, and frictional qualities of the cord C, the amount of such frictional resistance may be controlled. Since during the first moments of the operation of the impact force, such movement of the shell is produced at the expense of some slight slack of the cord, next by lateral movements of the tightened loops of said cord, and then by movement of the cord in the holes with gradually increasing friction as the tension in the cord increases, the transmission of the movement from the helmet shell to the suspension, and consequently to the head of the wearer, is gradual, which operation of the helmet has important advantages already explained above.

It can be appreciated that such operation of the suspension is ensured by the fact that in my improved suspension the base band I2 is made strong and substantially unstretchable. Should said band he made elastic, as is done in some conventional helmet suspensions, such operation of the suspension would be impaired.

By virtue of the construction described above by way of example, there is provided an improved safety helmet and a suspension therefor, whereby the above listed objects and a number of additional advantages are attained.

What I claim is:

1. A safety helmet comprising a rigid shell having a number of holes in the lower periphery of its crown; a substantially unstretchable suspension adapted to fit a wearers head and including an adjustable substantially unstretchable base band, a plurality of substantially unstretchable loops provided around the outside periphery of said base band, said band being mountable within said shell substantially concentrically therewith with a predetermined safety space between said shell and said loops to prevent their direct contact; and a substantially unstretchable cord passed through said holes in the shell and said loops, said cord being drawn tightly to offer frictional resistance to forces tending to disturb said concentric spaced relationship between said shell and said suspension and to form the sole connection therebetween across said safety space, the said safety space between said shell and base band being circumferentially continuous and being traversed only by said cord.

2. A safety helmet comprising a rigid shell having a number of holes in the lower periphery of its crown; a substantially unstretchable suspension adapted to receive a wearer's head and including an adjustable substantially unstretchable base band adapted to fit wearers head, and a plurality of head straps secured to said band and extending upwardly therefrom to form head embracing structure, the ends of said straps secured to said base band being bent upon themselves to form on the outer periphery of said band a plurality of substantially unstretchable loops, said band being mountable within said shell substantially concentrically therewith with a predetermined safety space between said loops and said shell; and a substantially unstretchable connecting cord adapted to be passed through said holes in the shell and said loops and when drawn tightly to center said suspension in said shell, said cord forming the sole connection between the shell and said suspension across said safety space and offering frictional resistance to forces tending to disturb said concentric space relationship, the said safety space between said shell and base band being circumferentially continuous and being traversed only by said cord.

3. A substantially unstretchable suspension for a safety helmet comprising a rigid shell having a number of holes in the lower periphery of its crown, said suspension including an adjustable substantially unstretchable base band adapted to fit a wearers head and mountable in said shell substantially concentrically therewith; and a substantially unstretchable cord passable through the holes in the helmet shell and adapted to connect said shell and said band leaving a safety space therebetween to prevent their direct contact and to form the sole connection between said shell and said suspension and to offer frictional resistance to forces tending to disturb said concentric spaced relationship between said shell and said suspension but yielding to such forces, the said safety space between said shell and base band being circumferentially continuous and being traversed only by said cord whereby side impact forces on said shell are partly absorbed in friction.

LE GRAND DALY.

. REFERENCES CITED The following references are of recordjn the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,835,883 Lewis Dec. 8, 1931 1,935,204 Dym Nov. 14, 1933 2,074,568 Sloan Mar. 23, 1937 2,115,368 Lustberg Apr. 26, 1938 2,184,043 Heilstedt et al Dec. 19, 1939 2,286,843 Catalane et al. June 16,-1942 2,342,501 Strauss Feb. 22, 1944 2,398,561 Ruggiero Apr. 16, 1948 2,420,937 Dauster May 20, 1947 

